The console provides developers with stats about how well their apps are doing in the Play online store

Google this week is extending an invitation to developers to try out its new Google Play Developer Console, which is centered on developing and publishing applications to the Google Play online store for Android applications.

The Play Developer Console, according to Google, is faster and easier to navigate, and it lets developers track how well their apps are doing. "You'll see new statistics about your user ratings: a graph showing changes over time, for both the all-time average user rating and new user ratings that come in on a certain day. As with other statistics, you'll be able to break down the data by device, country, language, carrier, Android version, and app version," said members of the Google Play team in a blog post.

A revamped publishing process enables developers to start with an APK or an app name. Developers also can see differences between old and new applications. Listings for applications can be published in 49 languages.

The upgraded console, however, still lacks multiple APK support as well as support for APK expansion files; developers can switch back to the old version of the console to use these features. Google Play previously had beenn known as Android Market, but Google changed the name of the store in March. The store also offers music, books, and movies.